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The purpose of medical insurance is to cover “there but for the grace of God go I” medical costs as opposed to elective procedures such as sex-change operations, which insurers are now required to cover under the Affordable Care Act.

ACA mandates of this nature are expected to cause insurance premiums to skyrocket in 2016, and Aetna, my insurer, told me without explanation that it will not renew my grandfathered high-deductible policy. This tells me everything I need to know about President Barack Obama’s promise, “If you like your health insurance, you can keep it.”

The first step is to consider alternatives to legally bypass ACA-compliant insurance policies, and therefore not pay for other people’s elective medical treatments. A Google search on “medical cost sharing” will bring up several religious-based medical cost-sharing programs that meet the ACA’s requirements, but pay only for “there for the grace of God go I” situations. This makes them far less expensive than ACA-compliant insurance policies.

Some, like Medi-Share, require participants to be Christians (any denomination, apparently), but Liberty Health Share requires only agreement with a shared belief system that seems to encompass all mainstream religions. In addition, the plans don’t cover pre-existing conditions, and you can’t smoke or abuse drugs or alcohol. If you comply with these conditions you can, however, pay $199 per month (if you are over 30) plus a $125 annual membership fee for a million dollars in coverage from Liberty Health Share. Medi-Share is similar, with a $10,000 deductible, and also offers a huge incentive for a low body mass index and normal blood pressure.

It is difficult to imagine a medical condition that will cost more than a million dollars but, if you find yourself with one, you can, during the open enrollment period, switch to an ACA-compliant plan that covers pre-existing conditions.

The next step is to review your health insurance premiums, if you still have health insurance in 2016, and express proper gratitude to President Obama along with his party’s House and Senate candidates next November.

William A. Levinson

Wilkes-Barre